Disco Ball: Land Rover Reveals Face of New Discovery

-Land Rover has released a single image of the new Discovery ahead of its debut at the Paris auto show later this month. While the image was accompanied by the shortest of press releases, fortunately there’s plenty more we can tell you about the forthcoming SUV.

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First and most obviously, it will be returning to the Discovery name in all markets, meaning an end to the LR4 nomenclature that its predecessor wore in the States. Under the surface it will be closely related to the current Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, which means the extensive use of aluminum and a curb weight considerably lighter than that of its hefty predecessor. The LR4’s partial ladder frame and underpinnings reinforced to ensure off-road ability translated to 5941 pounds on our scales the last time we tested one.

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The new car was previewed way back in 2014 by the Discovery Vision concept. The production model will continue with the Discovery’s benchmark “Alpine” roof profile, rising at the rear to provide extra accommodation for the standard third-row seating. Power will come from a Jaguar Land Rover’s new family of Ingenium engines, with both gasoline and diesel four-cylinder and six-cylinder versions available globally; we’ll have to wait to see which of those make it to the U.S.

Despite switching to a fully unibody chassis, we’ve been promised that the Discovery’s off-road ability still will be class-leading; Land Rover would say that, wouldn’t it? We’ll find out more about the new Discovery ahead of its official launch at the Paris show at the end of this month.